Hello All,

Here is a quick update on my long battle with sciatic
pain.
I was convinced that Piriformis syndrome was the cause
of my problem and had every test available, all of
which were negative.
After having exploratory surgery for what was deemed
to possibly be piriformis syndrome my condition
improved a lot. There is less intense pain and I can
now sit for longer periods of time. What the surgeon
found were "clusters" of veins wrapped around the
sciatic nerve near the top of my leg at the back near
the piriformis. He removed the clusters.
He was fairly confident that he had found, and cured
the problem, which was partially correct. But it
appears the problem is also possibly compounded by a
Bakers cyst at the rear of my knee joint. Cysts there
can press on nerves and be very painful. The knee is
also the next major area after the piriformis where
the sciatic nerve can get trapped.
The orthopaedic surgeon I saw in December said that he
is 70% sure (hopeful) that surgery will relieve the
pain. Some of you will know that my problem is also
compounded by a blood clot in the same leg as the
sciatic pain which has damaged the circulation in that
leg. Sitting, and especially kneeling cuts of the
blood flow to the leg. Kneeling also presses the cyst
onto the surrounding nerves and possibly arteries and
veins etc.
The bottom line is I am now waiting for arthroscopic
knee surgery that will possibly relieve some more of
the pain I have been dealing with for 5 years now. The
surgeon informed me that the waiting list for surgery
is very long and that it will be a year before he can
operate. So I have another year of pain but at least
there is some hope of improvement.
All for now, James.



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